Officers announced for newly formed Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue Company

By Dan Clark and Lynn A. Gladieux, For 21st Century Media

Friday, May 10, 2013

BOYERTOWN — Three area fire companies — Friendship Hook and Ladder and Keystone Steam Fire Engine, both in Boyertown, and Liberty Fire Company in Colebrookdale — will be merging to form the Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue Company beginning in 2014.

Recently, the group took another step forward and elected its inaugural set of officers. Charles Neubauer will serve as chief, Ryan Bingaman as deputy chief, David Shainline will be assistant in charge of personnel, Matthew Rothermel will be assistant in charge of stations/apparatus, Philip Nunan will be assistant in charge of special operations, Ashley Neubauer will be captain in charge of personnel, Glenn Trate will be captain in charge of stations/apparatus and Tony Boyd will be captain in charge of special operations.

Cindy Conrad, Colebrookdale Township manager, believes that the merger will provide a better service for the public.

“I think because everybody is so close, everyone is competing for the same donation money. I think they can provide better service,” Conrad said.

Conrad said that in February, representatives came to a township meeting and announced the merger, but they did not have much information at the time.

The three companies have been discussing the possibility of merging since the mid-2000s and have been holding monthly meetings and joint training sessions since 2002. Each group’s governing body has approved the consolidation.

The newly formed organization will use the call name of Berks County Station 95, according to Jeff Bealer, a member of Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue’s board of directors.

Bealer said merging the companies will address a number of problems the groups have faced, including a lack of volunteers.

“They (the three fire companies) were all competing for volunteers, and by combining them together, everybody gets to use the same resources,” he said.

Bealer said the three companies on their own were also struggling to make ends meet, something not helped by the sluggish economy. By eliminating the duplication of services, he said, money and resources can be saved.

“We are trying to make sure we have one, strong and efficient department that can take care of the entire area,” he said.

Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue will be responsible for providing fire and rescue services to Boyertown, Colebrookdale and the northern half of Douglass (Berks) Township.

Population shifts, the increasing use of cellphones and public education efforts have all contributed to the increase in calls received by 911 emergency responders, said David Shainline, a member Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue’s steering committee and the fire marshal for Colebrookdale Township. “Demand for service comes from a lot of different areas and you can’t pin it down to one thing,” Shainline said. “People are more aware of 911 and they know that’s the number to call, whereas perhaps before they were leery of calling.”

Consolidation will address the issue of fundraising, something each company has had to do on its own up until now. The groups will no longer have to compete for limited funds, Shainline said, with Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue now getting the “whole pie” rather than having to split it three ways.

“We are competing for the same people and the same dollars, not only against each other, but with all the nonprofit organizations,” he said.

Shainline said that the group’s current fleet of vehicles may be reduced, although the exact amount of apparatus Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue intends to keep is as yet undetermined.

“We want to be fiscally responsible and don’t want redundancy. The general feeling is that we probably don’t need five engines,” he said.

Keystone Fire Chief Dave Eisenhard agreed. “By combining the apparatus, it is evident we can reduce the fleet and save money.”

Neubauer said consolidation of the three companies — all within a mile of each other — only makes sense.